Assigitoe



" N 1 31- JAM. AMSDEN 1,833,102

MATERIAL HANDDING APPARATUS Filed July 50', 1950. 2 Sheets-Shee'x 1INVENTOR. 7ay M, Awdm BY A TTORNEY. J.

Patented Nov. 24, 1931 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE JAY M. AmsnnmorsnrABnLA, oHIo, ASSIGNOR TO'THE M. A. HANNA COMPANY, on

. CLEVELAND, on o, A conroBA'rIoN or 01110 7 'MATERIAL HANDLINGAPPARATUS Application filed July 30,

My invention relates .to ,material handling apparatus, and moreespecially to apparatus adapted to be employed for. the purpose ofconveying material such as coaland the like from an elevated bin orchute into the hold of a boat or to any other bin or receiving means.The usual practice in loading coal on to boats, as is wellknown to thosefamiliaiwith the prior art, is toprovide a hoist- 0 ing means orelevating means for the railroad cars so that such cars may be broughtto a level considerably higher than the deck of the boat which is toreceive the coal. The cars are then tipped over todischarge the coaltherefrominto a bin or chute, or such cars may be positioned over suchbin or chute and the bottoms thereof opened to permit the coal to .runtherefrom. The bin or chute which'receives the coal or other materialfrom the railroad cars and the like is pro;

vided with a chute which leads the coal down- Wardly into the hold ofthe boat. The vertical distancethrough which the coal'travels is usuallygreat enough so that 'thecoal, if permitted to run freely into the holdof the boat, will gain suflicient velocity so that when striking thebottom of the hold' or the pile of coal therein,'su'ch incoming coalwill be broken up and pulverized. This breaking up and pulverizationfofsome orall of the coal is usually referred to as degradation. Some meansmust, therefore, be provided to control the flow of thefcoal'into theboat so that degradation will be eliminated. i I g Any means which isemployed for the purpose of controlling the flow of the coal or othermaterial must effect the proper reduction in the velocity of thedown-flowing'coal before the same is permitted to be, discharged ontothe hold bottom, without incidentally effecting a degradationfwhichwould be as harmful as if the coal were permitted to flow .freely intothe boat." 1

In order that the flow. control meansfor the coal may eifectivel preventall degradation, it is necessary 1; at'suchcoal be permitted torfiow asnearly fas possible in a, straight line, ,due to; the fact that when theflow of coal is caused to' sharply change as 1930. Serial No. 471,706.

course the mutual impact of the chunks will cause a severe degradationwhich is in many instances of a degree equal to the degradationresulting when the coal is permitted to flow freely into the boat. 7VVhenthe coal or material delivery chute is introduced through the hatchWay of a boat some means must be provided in association with thedelivery end of such chute so that as the coal .piles up in the hold andapproaches the hatchway, some of the coal ma be projected laterally soas to completely fi l the hold under the deck. This lateral direction ofthe line of flow of the material is commonly referred to as trimming,which is indicative of the. true nature of the opera tion,'i. e.,trimming the pile of coal so that thesame will conform to the bin inwhich it-is contained.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide ameans forcontrolling the flow of coal as the. same is introduced to the hold of aboat'or other bin which will prevent all degradation of the material dueto the above. enumeratedcauses and others, whieh'means shall also becapable of being employed as a trimmer for thepile of coal withouteffecting a'degradation of the material during such trimming operation.

A To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, saidinvention, then, consists of. the means hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the annexed drawings and'thefollowing description setting forth in detail certainmechanism'embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting,however, but one of various mechanical forms in which the principleofthe invention may be used.

In said annexeddrawings e h Fig. 1- is a fragmentary elevational view ofa 'materialdelivery chute showing in asso-' ciation therewith theapparatus comprising my invention; Fig. 2 is an elevational viewillustrating the apparatus disclosed in Fig. 1 with the several elementsthereof so positioned as to effect a laterally directed flowfof thematerial discharged fromthe material chute; Fig. 3 is a sideelevationalview ofrthe apparatus illustrated in Fig. l and Fig. 4 is apart sectional plan view of the apparatus, taken on a planesubstantially indicated by the line 41- 1 in Fig. 3.

Referring more specifically to the draw ings, the material chute 1herein illustrated as being substantially rectangular in form, mayassume any desired cross sectional form, depending upon the use to whichsuch chute is put and further depending upon numerous other reasonswhich may influence the size or shape of such chute, it being noted thatthe principles of my invention are equally applicable to any form ofmaterial chute,

The material chute 1, as above indicated, leads the material such ascoal from an overhead bin or other means adapted to receive the materialto be conveyed into the boat or like means; The upper bin from which thechute 1 leads and any other material handling equipment usually employedin connection with such bin forms no part of this invention and,consequently, is not illustrated or described.

The chute 1 has an open bottom 2 through which the material may freelypass into the flow controlling apparatus comprising my invention, whichis generally indicated by the ordinal '3. The flow controlling apparatus3 consists of a conduit means 4 which is similar in cross section to thechute 1 and which may be telescopically engaged by the terminal of suchchute and secured thereto in any well known manner. Pivotally mounted bymeans of pins 5 and 6 projectinglatera-lly from the element 4 are gates7 and '8, which consist of side plates 9 and I0 and preferably arcuateend closure members 11 and 12. The gates 7 and 8 have pivotally securedthereto actuating arms 13 and 14, which at their other terminals arepivotally secured to spur gears 15 and 16, which are rotatably mountedon stub shafts projecting laterally from the element 1. It will be notedthat actuating arms, such as 13 and 1'4. and spur gears such as 15 and16, are positioned on opposite sides of the member 4, as most clearlyindicated in Fig. 4, so that the gates 7 and 8 will be operated fromboth sides to increase the efliciency of operation thereof and furtherto prevent any twisting or binding of the mechanism which might resultwere such gates operated only from one side.

One of each pair of spur gears 15 and 16 is provided with a drivingpinion 17 meshing therewith, which pinion is mounted on a shaft 18 whichterminally carries a worm gear 19 meshing with a worm 20, which ismounted on a shaft 21 extending from a motor 22. Eachpair of spur gears15 and 16 is interconnected by means of pinions 23 which are secured toshafts 24: extending transversely of the element 1 so that, as-a'boveindicated,feach pair ofsuch spur'gears may be driven from a singlemotor'so that the'gates 7 and 8 are independently operable for thereasons hereinafter more fully explained.

Then the material to be handled is permitted to flow downwardly throughthe chute 1, I prefer to open the gates 7 and 8 laterally from the linecentrally of such chute on which such gates normally close, to such anextent that the'material is discharged at a rate substantially equal tothe rate at which such material is fed to the bin from which the chute-1 leads. By so controlling the rate of discharge of the material, thechute 1 will at all times be filled so that the material may he moveddownwardly therethrough in a body rather than be permitted to fall withsufiicient velocity to cause a degradation of such material: Theprovision of gates, such as 7 and 8, which open laterally from a linecentrally with respect to the material chute 1 presents advantages notfound in any constructions heretofore employed. By moving such gateslaterally from aline centrally with respect to the delivery chute thematerial will be permitted to flow downwardly through the chute and bedischarged therefrom without being forced to change its direction offlow, which change always results in a degradation of the material dueto the mutual impact of the chunks of such material as the same areforced to change their direction of movement. In this manner the flow ofthe material may be accurately controlled so that the same will simplydrop from the lower end of the chute onto the pile of material or thebottom of the boat, rather than be violently projected therein as wouldbe the case if the apparatus comprising my invention were not employed.

It will be noted that degradation can be reduced to an absolute minimumby providing a means association with the discharge chute 1 so that thedischarge end thereof may be maintained at all times at'a given distanceabove 'the pile of material thereunder, whiclrd-ismme should neverexceed the minimum required for free discharge of the material. I 7

After the pile of material in'the hold approaches the hatchway itbecomes necessary, as above indicated, to direct the stream of materiallaterally so as to fill the corners of the bin; in other words, itbecomes necessary to trim "the pileso that a maximum amount of material"can be placed in such bin. The above described apparatus operatesefliciently-a's atrimme'r when'o'ne ofsuczh gates such as 8, asillustrated in Fig. 2, is completely open'eclandthe other gate, such-as7 is moved arcuately so that the 'lowered'ge thereof is moved across theline centrally with respect to the'chute '1 on which such gates normallyclose. By moving the gate 7 'to the position illustrated Fig. 2, thatis, with the lower edge thereof'acr'o'ss f'theline centrally of thechute '1, the material discharged by such gate 7 will be directedagainst the downwardly flowing material issuing from that portion of thechute normally closed by the gate 8, so that the entire stream ofmaterial delivered by the apparatus is directed laterally with respectto the axis of the chute so that such stream of material may be causedto flow into the corners or sides of the bintively, efl'ect a controlover the flow of material in the manner hereinbefore described Withoutany degradation due to the gradual change in the direction of such flow.

A further description of the principles of my invention is believedunnecessary for those familiar with the art, sufiice it to say thatnumerous changes might be made in the specific form of construction hereillustrated for purposes of description, and, further, numerousadvantages are attained by the employment of the above describedapparatus which are believed to be so obvious to those familiar with theart of handling fragile material such as coal so that a reiterationthereof is believed unnecessary.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may beemployedinstead of the one explained, change being made as regards themechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of thefollowing claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and dis 7 tinctl claim as myinvention 1. i1 apparatus of the character described,

a material delivery chute open at its bottom, and a pair ofindependently operable arcuate gates mounted for movement in arcuatepaths or closing said chute, said gates adapted to open laterally from aline centrally of said chute, and each of said gates adapted when closedto direct the stream of material laterally when the other of said gatesis opened.

2. In apparatus of the character described, a material chute open at itsbottom, a pair of independently operable pivotally mounted arcuategates, adapted to meet on a line centrally of said chute, either of saidgates adapted to be moved across such line, when the other gate isopened, to direct the stream of material laterally of said chute.

V 3. In apparatus of the character described, a material chutehaving arectangular discharge terminal, and a pair of independently operablegates having arcuate bottoms adapted to closesaid chute by meeting on aline centrally of said chute, each of said gates adapted to be movedacross such line accordingly as the other of said gates is opened, todirect the stream of material laterally of said chute.

Signed by me this 28th day of July, 1930.

. JAY M. AMSDEN.

